


Kezia

by islasands



Series: Three in a Bed and No-one Said [1]
Category: Adam Lambert (Musician)
Genre: Love Triangle, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-15
Updated: 2011-07-15
Packaged: 2017-10-21 10:18:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/224095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/islasands/pseuds/islasands
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adam surprises a lot of people when he marries the musician, Kezia Salinger.For one thing, she's a girl. For another, she's a serious odd-ball. But when Adam and Kezia 'marry' a third person, Adam's lover, Wakefield, tongues do more than wag, especially when all three turn up at an awards ceremony...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kezia

Adam walked slowly up the first flight of stairs. He was late for rehearsal and regretting it. He was dishevelled and unshaven. His hair stood on end as though he had repeatedly run his fingers through it – which was, indeed, the case. When he came to the first landing, from which a short hallway led to other studio spaces, he was stopped short by the sound of someone playing lead on an electric guitar. The runs and riffs seemed to express exactly what he was feeling. The notes ran to the edges of cliffs, paused in tremolo sustain, then began to bend on a point of ecstasy, sliding up as though flight was imminent, then further up as though it was inevitable. But no. It was not to be. The note broke into pieces, falling in a jagged run that was so perfect in its resignation Adam reached out and put his hand on the wall,

A few steps brought him to a door that was ajar, and he pushed it open gently, hoping he could observe without being noticed. On the other side of the room, surrounded by music gear, a youth was standing with his back to him, head bent, shoulders hunched, his right elbow pulling up and out as he stretched the notes. Suddenly a voice joined the guitar. He was singing into a microphone.

 _You bring me here so often,_

 _Promising me the world_

 _But all I want_

 _Is to walk by a river ..._

The voice had unusual timbre, clear as water on the surface but with a harsh resonator hidden at its core.  The emotions it conveyed seemed to come directly from the folds of the vocal chords rather than by any effort of interpretation. It was like listening to a voice that had a mind of its own.  And to his surprise, considering how everything about the musician indicated a male owner, the voice belonged to a female.

The singer, as though suddenly tuning into his presence, spun around. He was surprised, pleasantly so, to find his initial impression of ‘her’ being a ‘he’ was strengthened, not lessened, when she stared solemnly in his direction. She was as straight as an arrow, slight of build, with fine, tow-coloured, fly away hair.

“I’m working in here,” she said.

Adam smiled and apologized for disturbing her.

“I heard you playing. I really wanted to know who was playing.”

The girl continued staring at him. Adam stared back. He couldn’t help himself. She was remarkable looking, mainly on account of the lightness of her eyes, which were wide set apart and so clear and blank, yes, blank and unblinking, he wondered for a moment if she was blind. The mutual staring continued beyond what was comfortable for Adam, but the girl seemed unfazed. It was as though a piano chord had been struck and they were both standing still in the aftermath of its reverberation.

“I am working,” she repeated. “Shut the door.”

Adam did so. He ran up the remaining stairs. The girl and his voice had fascinated him, snapping him out of his lethargy. Later, over drinks, he quizzed one of the engineers about her.

“Oh, that’s Kezia Salinger. Awesome talent. She’s been sessioning for a few years – plays any fucking instrument you put within her reach. Doing her own shit now. Did you hear her sing? No-one knew _that_ was there. She’s one very weird chick.”

“I want to meet her,” Adam said.

“Well, there’s a post-prod party tonight she’s meant to attend. If she turns up I’ll introduce you, but be warned. She’ll most likely walk away without even looking at you. She’s known for it.”

Kezia did turn up and Adam was duly introduced. She frowned at him.

“I didn’t know who you were,” she said, her voice expressionless. “ I listened to your new album. Two songs are alive, the rest were life-like.” She looked down and began turning away.

“Don’t go yet. I want to keep talking,” Adam said. In a flash he realised it would be better to forget social niceties and cut to the chase. “You interest me. I want to keep talking.”

Kezia squinted at him, pushing her lips out as though he had said something unfathomable to her, or even idiotic.

“You may as well know, I don’t do this shit. I have no idea what you want. I mean, I really don’t know, or want to know.”

Adam smiled and shrugged. Kezia hesitated.

“That’s what I don’t get,” she said. “It comes easy to you, standing there smiling? But not to me. I have no natural expressions, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

“I find that hard to believe,” Adam said. “Show me. Show me a happy face.”

Kezia looked him up and down. Adam expected her to walk away but instead she suddenly pulled an unusual face, half wincing, half smiling.

“Now a sad one,” Adam said.

Kezia focused, moved various parts of her face, then repeated the face she had just made. She did the same for every face Adam suggested. He burst out laughing.

“Why are you laughing?’ she asked, genuinely puzzled.

“They were all the same,” he said. “Every single one of them.”

Kezia widened her eyes at him, but whether in disbelief or because her feelings were hurt, Adam couldn’t tell. He was about to explain himself when she smiled at him, a smile that moved slowly from secretive to a frank expression of pleasure, lips sealed in a beautiful curve that tipped up at the corners and created dints in her cheeks. Adam was shocked. The girl was beautiful. Not pretty, her face was too impassively structural for that, but more beautiful than anyone, male or female, he had ever met. She was literally breath-taking. As quickly as the smile had appeared it left her face. She looked perplexed.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

Adam released his breath. He shook his head.

“Let’s go and get drunk,” Kezia said in a matter-of-fact voice.”I’m better when I’m drunk. I’m fun.”

They took some bottles of wine and left the party. Kezia led him down a corridor and into one of the recording studios. She opened a bottle of wine, drank from it, and sat down at a piano. Adam sat next to her and took the wine from her. She began to play.

They sang and drank and laughed until they could sing and drink no more. Adam half-carried Kezia to a couch at the back of the studio. For a while they sat side by side but ended up with Kezia half lying on top of Adam. Someone came into the studio, calling out to them. He left.

“We’re not here,” Kezia mumbled against Adam’s chest. “So fuck off.”

Adam half-opened his eyes. He ran his hand over her hair. It was silky and fine, like the irises of her eyes, the perfect pitch of her voice, the slow, flower-like opening of her smile.  His hands examined the strong wiry lines of her torso. He felt oddly aroused by the deceptive lightness of her weight. Far from fragile she felt like a high tensile blade, ready at any moment to leap into life. He thought about his unexpected erection. He didn’t want to fuck her. It wasn’t that. But he did want to get inside her. Maybe into her brain. And once inside, to lie down. Sleep without dreaming. Sleep in the arms of a mind that wanted nothing from him.

“I think,” he said, speculatively, “you are completely without guile or cunning”.

“Don’t wake me up” she muttered. She pushed his arm away, as though annoyed, and snuggled into him. Adam smiled at the directness of her perversity. He returned his arm to where it had been.

“Fuck you too, my rabbit,” he said.

She didn’t wake. Nor did he have to remove his arm.


End file.
